Electronic complaints [Elektronische Ressource] : an empirical study on British English and German complaints on eBay / vorgelegt von Marja Ebba Meinl

Marja Ebba Meinl

Sujets

• Deutsch

Informations

• Publié par: rheinische_friedrich-wilhelms-universitat_bonn
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 35
• Langue: Deutsch
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

Electronic Complaints:
An Empirical Study on British English and German
Complaints on eBay






Inaugural-Dissertation
zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde
der
Philosophischen Fakultät
der
Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität
zu Bonn




vorgelegt von
Marja Ebba Meinl

aus
Bonn



Bonn 2010





Gedruckt mit der Genehmigung der Philosophischen Fakultät
der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn










Zusammensetzung der Prüfungskommission:

Prof. Dr. Uwe Baumann
(Vorsitzender)

Prof. Dr. Klaus P. Schneider
(Betreuer und Gutachter)

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Esser
(Gutachter)

Prof. Dr. Marion Gymnich
(weiteres prüfungsberechtigtes Mitglied)



Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 8. Januar 2010





Gedruckt mit der Genehmigung der Philosophischen Fakultät
der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn










Zusammensetzung der Prüfungskommission:

Prof. Dr. Uwe Baumann
(Vorsitzender)

Prof. Dr. Klaus P. Schneider
(Betreuer und Gutachter)

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Esser
(Gutachter)

Prof. Dr. Marion Gymnich
(weiteres prüfungsberechtigtes Mitglied)



Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 8. Januar 2010














To my Father














Table of Contents iv
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements...........................................................................vii
List of abbreviations.......viii
List of tables .......................................................................................x
List of figures...................xiv
Chapter 1: Introduction.....................................................................1
Chapter 2: Complaining within cross-cultural pragmatics .............5
2.1. Pragmatics................................................................................................. 5
2.2. Speech act analysis.................... 6
2.2.1. Speech act theory ................................................................................. 6
2.2.2. Discourse analysis.............. 10
2.2.2.1. An integrative model of discourse............... 11
2.2.3. The focus of the present study: complaints ......................................... 12
2.2.3.1. Reasons for choosing complaints................. 12
2.2.3.2. Characteristics of complaints....................................................... 14
2.3. Theories of (im)politeness....................................................................... 18
2.3.1. The conversational-maxim view......................... 19
2.3.2. The face-saving view......... 21
2.3.3. The conversational-contract view....................................................... 26
2.3.4. The concept of relational work........................... 28
2.3.5. The concept of rapport management................... 33
2.3.6. A model of impoliteness..................................................................... 36
2.4. Pragmatics across cultures..... 40
2.4.1. Contrastive pragmatics....... 40
2.4.2. Cross-cultural versus intercultural pragmatics .................................... 41
2.4.3. Culture............................................................................................... 42
Chapter 3: Computer-mediated communication (CMC)...............44
3.1. Definition of CMC................................................................................... 44
Table of Contents v
3.2. A brief history of CMC........................................................................... 45
3.3. Classification of computer-mediated discourse (CMD)......................... 46
3.3.1. Earlier approaches to classifying CMD............... 47
3.3.2. The faceted classification scheme of CMD......................................... 49
Chapter 4: The methodology of the present study .........................57
4.1. The data of the present study ................................................................. 57
4.1.1. eBay and its feedback forum.............................. 57
4.1.2. The technical and social context of the present data............................ 58
4.1.3. Data collection procedures ................................................................. 67
4.1.4. Choice of data: advantages and disadvantages.... 71
4.2. Statistical analysis................................................................................... 75
Chapter 5: Data analysis..77
5.1. Complaint strategies ............................................................................... 78
5.1.1. Data analysis...................... 81
5.2. Level of directness................... 83
5.2.1. Data analysis...................................................................................... 85
5.3. Modification............................ 85
5.3.1. Data analysis...................... 90
5.4. Use of pronouns....................................................................................... 91
5.4.1. Data analysis...................... 94
5.5. Features of CMC..................... 95
5.5.1. Data analysis...................................................................................... 99
5.6. Sum variables........................ 100
5.6.1. Data analysis.................... 102
Chapter 6: Results.......................................................................... 103
6.1. Comparison of British English versus German complaints ................ 103
6.1.1. Data set: Item has not been received................. 104
6.1.2. Data set: The item was different than expected................................. 118
6.1.3. Data set: Item has not been received (double complaints)................. 132
Table of Contents vi
6.1.4. Data set: Item was different than expected (double complaints)........ 146
6.2. Comparison of the British English data sets........................................ 162
6.3. Comparison of the German data sets................... 185
6.4. Summary of the results......................................................................... 205
Chapter 7: Discussion.... 214
7.1. Discussion in light of previous research on complaints....................... 214
7.2. Discussion in light of (im)politeness theories ....................................... 226
Chapter 8: Implications and outlook............ 241
References....................................................................................... 245
Appendix......................... 266


Acknowledgements vii
Acknowledgements
This project would not have been possible without the support of many people who
deserve my deep gratitude.
First, I would like to thank my supervisor Prof. Dr. Klaus P. Schneider for his
support, advice, and encouragement during these years. My further heartful thanks
go to Ejo Zimmermann, who not only patiently taught me the statistics I needed,
but also most skilfully introduced me to SPSS. Furthermore, I want to express my
gratitude to Christoph Henn, editor of the eBay Magazin, who was always eager to
help me with questions concerning eBay. Also many thanks go to my proof-readers
Fanny Bates and Ryan Dux for their invaluable feedback and suggestions for
linguistic improvements.
My sincere appreciation goes to my parents, who emotionally and financially
supported me throughout my studies, making my academic career possible.
Last, but by no means least, I would like to express my deep gratefulness to my
husband Michael Meinl who has always supported me by his boundless patience
and good humour, but most importantly by his infinite love.

List of abbreviations viii
List of abbreviations
? The reason for complaining could not be identified.
# Absolute frequencies
% Relative frequencies
BrE British English
Capitalisation Capitalisation of words
(words)
Capitalisation Capitalisation of the whole message
(message)
CMC Computer-mediated communication
CMD Computer-mediated discourse
CofP Community of Practice
CP Cooperative Principle
D “Double complaint”, i.e. a user complains for two reasons
at the same time.
D_Statis The German Federal Statistics Office and the Statistical Offices of
the Länder
Demonstrative Demonstrative pronouns followed by nouns denoting the
pronouns complainee
Ex.m. (single) Single exclamation marks
Ex.m. (repeated) Repetition of exclamation marks
(Item) DIFF Data set: ‘Item different than expected’, i.e. a user complains
about the fact that the item s/he received was somehow
different than s/he expected it to be.
(Item) DIFF-D Data set: ‘Item different, double-complaint’, i.e. a user complains
about the fact that the item s/he recei